NHL denies NHLPA's new offers

Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - The NHL Players Association supplied three
separate proposals to the National Hockey League on Thursday in an effort to
end the league's ongoing lockout.

The NHL, however, turned down all three proposals and the meeting broke up
after a little more than an hour.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman submitted a six-year offer to the NHLPA on
Tuesday that included a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue, asked for
entry-level contracts to be two years in length and for a five-year maximum
length on all other contracts, allowed players to become unrestricted free
agents after eight accrued NHL seasons or at 28 years of age, and allowed for
a full 82-game season, beginning on Nov. 2, if the players accepted the deal.

But that is unlikely now that the league has turned down the NHLPA's counter
offer.

"The Players' Association came back and basically made three alternate
proposals on the players' share, all variations, to some degree, of the one
proposal that they made over the summer and really haven't deviated from
since," Bettman said. "And none of the three variations of players' share that
they gave us even began to approach 50-50 (revenue split) either at all or for
some long period of time and it's clear that we're not speaking the same
language in terms of what they came back to us with.

"It is still my hope that we can accomplish my goal, the league's goal of
getting an 82-game season, but I am concerned based on the proposal that was
made today that things are not progressing. To the contrary, I think the
proposal that was made by the Players' Association was in many ways a step
backward."

The lockout, which began on Sept. 16, has already caused the cancellation of
82 games from Oct. 11-24.